The Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has launched a project, known as “Long Term Evolution” or LTE, to develop specifications for an advanced wireless communication system. The LTE standard calls for a retransmission mechanism to be implemented in the radio link control (RLC) protocol. The specified retransmission protocol is a selective repeat protocol used in “RLC Acknowledged Mode”. When a missing protocol data unit (PDU) is detected, a status report including a NACK of the missing PDU or PDUs is sent from the receiving terminal to the transmitting terminal. In response to the status report, the transmitting terminal may resend any lost PDUs, or take other action as appropriate. In LTE, a status report may also be transmitted in response to a poll request. A transmitting terminal may poll the receiving terminal for RLC status information. In response to a poll, the receiving terminal sends a status report indicating the current RLC status. Currently, there is no mechanism for retransmission of a status PDU.